In the sport of archery, the bow string is grasped by the ends of the archer's fingers and drawn back to tension the bow. Upon releasing the bow string, the high stress placed on the archer's fingers may produce bow string deviations that reduce the accuracy and velocity of the arrow. Repetitive drawing and releasing of the bow string by the fingers may lead to sore or callused fingers. For these reasons, many prior art devices have been devised to mechanically grasp a bow string so that the bow string can be drawn back and mechanically released.
Many bow string releases found in the prior art retain the bow string in a notch by means of a finger or keeper closing an exit from the notch. Since this finger will become angled with respect to the bow string path as the bow string is released, it may exert a slight lateral force on the bow string which, to a skilled archer, will result in a less than perfect release.
Some bow string releases utilize opposing fingers or jaw structures to retain the bow string. Such fingers and jaws may impose lateral forces on the bow string during the release of the bow string, or one jaw or finger may release slightly in advance of the other jaw or finger thus slightly biasing the bow string release. Also, the surfaces on the jaws or fingers can have a slightly different surface smoothness or curvature, which may slightly effect the bow string release or may unduly wear the bow string.
Other bow string release devices provide sensitive actuating mechanisms to provide a sensitive trigger but do not provide adjustment mechanisms for adjusting the sensitivity of the trigger. Such release devices may cause the bow string holding means to open prematurely when subjected to a large bow string force, especially when bows of different draw weights are utilized.